One of the hottest and most debated subject in the world of entrepreneurship is how many hours should a real business owner work?
Today Im going to discuss this subject in dept and give you an answer you probably did not expect
On one hand, the more hours you spend working the more you potentially can get done, on the other hand most people do not want to work nonstop and prefer to have a more balanced life
I would say that in order to answer the question of how many hours you should work in a given week you have to first answer 2 other questions
Question 1: what are your goals and ambitions
Question 2: on what stage of business are you in – and im not talking about your age or your financial situation but the phase your business is in its development – but more on that later
If you look at billionaires you will find that most of them had worked non stop for decades, and because im not a billionaire, and probably won’t be – i cant give you an advice as in how to get there, but it seems to me that this non stop working for decades is a requirement.
Just like that in order to become a world class athlete in the olympics for example you need to completely dedicate yourself to your ambition – thats probably also the case if you want to be a billionaire.
Obviously if your ambitions are to build a business thats making few hundred thousands a year – thats not a requirement.
Well, thats at least not a requirement forever.
You see, every successful business I started required full dedication for a period of time, I clearly remember the days of working 7 – 16 hour work days, running to get a takeout sandwich for lunch, eating on my way walking back to the office.
Working on weekends, holidays and even my birthday – drinking 6 cups of coffee every day.
On my second and third businesses I was smarter and refused to work on weekends but still i was totally busting my butt.
Today I have time to spend with my kids and wife, for my hobbies and more – while my businesses continue to grow with the right management teams in place.
And this year during the pandemic and everything my businesses are still doing 8 figures.
So we must get back to the second question – did you just start your business yesterday? Are you still struggling to make your own income from your business? You should probably work a lot.
While of course making sure you work as smart as possible, but right now time is cheap and money is expensive so get on and do the dirty work – there is a huge benefit to doing it in the long run as well
Because when I just started I did all the dirty work – no one in my team can tell me I don’t understand the challenges of his position – because i faced them my self.
If your business is just building up momentum? Definitely keep on working hard.
If you can see your business results are getting steady and great – put in the systems and people to free your own time.
In my opinion its never a good idea to set on 4 hour work weeks, but having some 4 hour or ever no hours work weeks during the year is a key to growing as an entrepreneur and finding new business opportunities as well as to make sure your family life and health are in an amazing shape.
But you should always be able to work 4 hours or less a year as a business owner – even if you choose to work more to grow your business even more.
So
What are your goals?
What stage are you in?
